Wednesday, May 20, 2009

This year is going entirely too quickly. I feel as though I just updated these, but it's been over two weeks. I've also been meaning to start updating this blog a few times a week with entries that are not goal related, but so far I've been failing miserably. I need to make more time to keep up with that instead of aimlessly wandering on the Internet.

1. Read 75 of my own books that I've never read before. 54 to go. I'm still re-reading some of my favorites, but I'm making decent progress with this one.

2. Watch all of the movies I own and have never watched. Watched two more...for next update I'm definitely going to make a list of what needs done, so I have an exact number of movies left to complete this goal. I'm nearly finished.

3. Complete 12 video games. I've been playing Rock Band again. I really need to stop that, and get into games I can finish. I'll take my DS with me this weekend and hopefully get close to finished with Phoenix Wright.

4. Travel. Philly is the day after tomorrow! I'm really excited; it'll be fun as always to see everyone, plus we're going to the circus which should be a blast.

5. Continue to learn Japanese. I've picked this up again over the last week. I'm seriously contemplating getting the Rosetta Stone software in a couple of months. At this point it's pretty definite actually, I just have to figure out whether I want the full set or to buy the individuals (which would be easier to save for but a lot more expensive in the long run)

6. Learn to cook 12 new types of meals, and 6 desserts. I'm taking this off the list until after my trip this summer. I may get through a couple of dishes before then, but I don't have the budget to do much so I won't have many updates to make.

7. Finish one of my Nano novels. I'm stuck on the third, so for now I've gone back to my first. No point in forcing myself to keep working on something when another story is actually coming easily for once.

8. Write every day. I've been doing pretty well with this goal still. I miss days here and there but I write a bit most days.

9. Let other people read my writing. Still no progress here.

10. Clean out my stuff, and get organized. I really need to get my ass in gear if I want to be done by the end of May like I said last update. I did get a new bookcase, and that helped a lot with the clutter. I'm working on my closet and everything else a bit every day, but I'm still going to shoot for being done at the end of the month. If I devote an entire day to it next weekend I should be able to finish.

11. New wardrobe. I picked up new sandals, but that's about it. Now that the weather is warmer I need to really get some summer clothes. I get paid next week and I don't have any bills due, so maybe I'll set aside some money and get started.

12. Exercise 5 hours per week. I've gotten up to about 4 hours a week, which is an improvement. I should be back to 5 for the next update, though being away this weekend will throw that off a bit.

13. Save money, and learn to manage my money wisely. I'm still working on my budget, and I have the majority of it done. I'm really happy with it actually; I've managed so far to set aside money for everything really important, plus birthdays and such, and even some money for "fun stuff" while still having plenty for vacation. I should have a fairly good chunk left in my savings as well. Now the real test is how well Istick to the budget once it's finished...

14. Eat healthy. I decided against doing Weight Watchers through work. I'm not really comfortable with the big group thing, and I'm also not sure I could commit to a full 17 weeks. If I did decide to drop out I would have to pay my company back the full amount of the program. I'm considering signing up for just the online version of the program. It doesn't cost much to try for the first few months, and I could get the info I wanted that way.

15. Photography. I got some pictures at my brother's graduation, and afterwards some pictures of the city. I also have my small camera bag now, and I've budgeted money for another larger bag and some more accessories. I'm also looking for a good book that will help me learn to make the most of my camera's features, so if anyone knows of anything let me know!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

So for whatever reason, Blogger messed up my last goal update. I'm not even trying to fix that one up...it's about time for a totally new update anyway.

1. Read 75 of my own books that I've never read before. 57 to go. Now that I'm done with class for the semester I'll probably get through this goal much more quickly. Plus I've bought a bunch of books lately (shocking!) that I really want to get to.

2. Watch all of the movies I own and have never watched. I watched one today since I had the day off. I'll have to come up with a list of what's left so I know how much more I have to go.

3. Complete 12 video games. Still have 11 to go. I played some Bioshock and Phoenix Wright today, and this is another goal that I'll probably do better with now that the semester is officially over.

4. Travel. Philly is coming up soon. Camping has been put on hold for now. I have a few other small things planned though. Ireland is coming together a little bit. I've paid off the ticket entirely and have been making up my budget for the next few months so I make sure I have enough set aside for the trip. However, until Jade actually shows up and helps me on her end I'm kind of stuck. I hope this happens in the next day or two; I'm running out of time....

5. Continue to learn Japanese. I dropped this completely for the last few weeks. I was too busy with finals and my grandmother to worry about it. I'll get back to it now.

6. Learn to cook 12 new types of meals, and 6 desserts. Like I said before, I'll probably get into this more over the summer. I'd like to get through a few before I leave for Ireland but most will probably be after, just because of the money involved in buying all of the ingredients. It depends on what I decide to make and how much extra stuff I have to buy.

7. Finish one of my Nano novels. This is still going agonizingly slow, but I guess even a few sentences here and there is getting me that much closer to the end of the story. 8. Write every day. I kept up with this pretty well throughout finals. I didn't write every day but I did write most days, even though it was often for only 10 minutes.

9. Let other people read my writing. Still no progress here.

10. Clean out my stuff, and get organized. I've already made some more progress here since finals ended. I had a big overstuffed chair that I got out of my room finally...now I have access to my second closet (and have room for yet another bookcase *looks innocent*). Since I'm seriously considering remodeling my room a bit this summer, I'd like to be finished with all of this cleaning by the end of May. It'll take a bit of work to make it by then but I think it's doable.

12. New wardrobe. Nothing with this since the last update. Once I have finished my budget I'm going to go shopping for some new summer clothes.

13. Exercise 5 hours per week. I haven't managed to hit 5 hours per week since I changed the goal, but I've still been doing the 3 hours. I definitely want to get back to 5-6 hours a week before the next update.

14. Save money, and learn to manage my money wisely. I did take some money out of savings to pay off my grandmother, so right now all I have debt-wise is my car and my student loan. My big project for the next week or so is drawing up a budget for the next three months or so, so I can pay for my trip and everything else I need, while hopefully keeping at least a part of my savings intact.

15. Eat healthy. My work is paying for Weight Watchers for anyone who is interested, for 17 weeks. I'm considering joining. Not because I'm really interested in losing weight, but I would like to learn more about eating better and portion sizes, etc. I have to decide by the end of the week, so I'll really have to think about it tonight and tomorrow.

16. Photography. Haven't had time for much. For one it's been raining nearly constantly here. I did get a number of pictures from Danielle's black belt recertification. I'll get more at my brother's college graduation this Saturday. I really need to order a camera bag (I'd had one picked out but it's now discontinued and not available, go figure!) and figure out what I'm doing about lenses and whatnot. I want to be sure I have enough time to learn to use any new accessories. Yet another thing I will be doing as soon as I get my budget set up...

I didn't make a lot of progress over the last month, but I did better than I really expected to. My top priority for next time is definitely working up a budget, as so many of my goals are tied into that. I'd also like to start writing maybe an hour or so a day. We'll see how that goes.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

I've been up since 5am. I'm so very tired right now, but I figured I'd post a quick update on my grandmother's surgery. She had to go in twice, but the surgeon said he got all the cancer out. He also said that she didn't have the bad type of melanoma. I can't remember the names of the different types, but there's one that doesn't take root and won't spread internally, and then there's the type that does. My grandmother had the first...meaning that provided they cut it all out she should have no further issues. Which is a huge relief, to say the least.

So they cut it out, and ran a bunch of tests to make sure they got it all, and they did a quick check for any other spots but didn't find anything. She has a follow up appointment next Tuesday (here thankfully, no going into the city again) to get her stitches out and have a more thorough exam for any other cancer. I have to see if I can take a half a day off or something on Tuesday to get her to the doctor. Hopefully that will be the end of it.

Thank you so much to those of you who have been there for me through all of this. You have no idea how much I appreciated it and how much it helped. Then there were the people who flat out ignored me when I told them (some of them really surprised me...), but I guess it's better that I found out what types of people they really were. I seem to have a problem with picking some of the worst people as my friends...but then again I've picked some of the best as well so I guess it all works out in the end.

I think I should stop writing as I'm exhausted and delirious, and I'm pretty sure I stopped making sense a couple paragraphs ago. I'm off work tomorrow to make sure my gran is okay (and make sure she doesn't ignore all the doctor's orders as usual lol). I'll probably post again then. But for now, goodnight!

Monday, May 4, 2009

I finished my final for my tax class last night. It was horrible and I'm not sure how well I did, but at the same time I'm glad it's over. No more class stuff to worry about for a while...probably not until next spring as a matter of fact. At the very least I will have all summer off.

Now that I will actually have some free time, I have about a million things I want to do. For one, finishing my goal of cleaning and organizing my things. I also want to start working out every day after work again. And of course I'll have the time now to really get my trips organized and my budget worked out. I'm also considering remodeling my room, though I don't think it'll actually happen. I don't know about spending the time and money when I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here. I might rip out my carpet though; I hate it and would rather fix up the hardwood floor underneath.

With any time that's left I'll be trying to get through books/games/shows, and once the weather starts being nice (consistently) I'll be spending a lot of time outside and making some day trips. I'm considering taking up running again. I'd also like to start updating this more regularly. I'd like to post at least a few times a week...do the goal updates more regularly and start posting other things. Most will probably just be my ramblings but I'm thinking of doing book reviews and such as well.

I love how I just finished school yesterday and I've already come up with about 20 different things to fill the time. I'm apparently not satisfied unless I'm running around like a nutcase.In other news, my grandmother's cancer surgery is tomorrow. I'm stressed out about it, but I'm a lot calmer than I thought I'd be. Everyone is pretty optimistic so I'm trying to keep that attitude as well. Unfortunately, I will have to be at work during the day. Originally I had the day off, and my mother was going to take off Wednesday to stay here. However, mom couldn't get Wednesday off due to meetings, so we switched. I'll be off Wednesday. On the one hand I do like that I'll be staying at home and don't have to worry about getting to and from Pittsburgh during rush hour, but I know I'll be pretty useless at work tomorrow. I gave mom my work number though so she can call periodically and keep me up to date.

And finally, I got my tattoo a few weeks ago. Here's a picture from right after I got it done, so it's still all red and irritated. It's pretty much healed now but I haven't taken any recent pictures. I may or may not remember to take another picture to post sometime soon. Overall I'm pretty happy with it though.

Sorry if this post is a bit long and rambling, but I had a lot of little things I wanted to touch on. I'll be redoing a goals update as well in the next few days. Maybe. I'm getting quite frustrated with Blogger screwing up my blog posts so I may end up moving the entire thing elsewhere. Either way I'm sure I'll post soon.